


Gentle Night

by aprildaze



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, domestic intimacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 04:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14992391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aprildaze/pseuds/aprildaze
Summary: Kakashi asking softly in the dark:Would you be upset? If this was all I could give you?





	Gentle Night

There’s a light tapping against the windowpane.

Gai startles, but then relaxes into an easy grin, winking at the half face visible just past his bedroom curtains. 

“Kakashi!” he says, pushing the window open wide. “Such a cool and skillful entrance, as to be expected from my rival!”

“Wasn’t sure you’d be in,” Kakashi apologizes, ducking his head and landing, without a sound, on the hardwood floor of Gai’s apartment.

“Nothing to apologize for!” Gai laughs. “Would you like some tea?”

Kakashi half shrugs, as if too nonplused to commit to an opinion either way. Gai hums, taking the nonchalant answer in stride and heading towards the kitchen. Gai is already dressed for bed in a soft t-shirt and patterned pants, but Kakashi is in full ANBU gear: intimidating and brutal, missing only the porcelain mask of a violent hound.

At least his rival isn’t sporting any blood, this time around.

Kakashi leans against the counter, watching Gai fuss with the kettle and water, setting it on the stove to boil. Gai has just spent the last month with Asuma, who likes to do everything quickly with a jutsu, but youth is about enjoying the small things in life as equally as the big.

He goes to the hallway cupboard, returning to the kitchen with a small package of pu’er tea; he’s always loved the way the tea smells, deep and damp, like barley fields just visited by spring rain. Gai carefully undoes the tea’s wrappings, cracking the orange peel between his palms to let the dark tea leaves loose inside of the porcelain teapot. Gai catches the kettle just as it begins to boil, setting it aside to cool.

“Was your mission successful?” Kakashi asks.

“Not a scratch on me!” Gai declares, grinning brightly and gathering up the dried orange peel for the compost. Kakashi hums, turning to cupboards to find his favorite teacups, chipped yunomi with tiny green dogs painted on one side. Gai notes there’s no stiffness to his movements, or any tiredness past his usual lazy, off-duty persona. 

“Asuma and Ebisu are in good health, as well,” Gai adds, pouring the hot water over the pu’er tea, allowing it steep briefly before pouring it all into a glass pitcher. The tea comes out a rich amber-peach, smelling of citrus and earth. He sets the tea between his dearest rival and himself, pouring the first cups for each of them as he launches into the impressive details of his A-Rank mission.

It is wonderful to be home. The pu’er tea is superb, lingering in his mouth long after swallowed. Kakashi is quiet, mostly speaking in sharp, intelligent questions that never force Gai to share too much. They easily make their way through the whole pot of tea, even with Kakashi taking only quick and surreptitious sips between lowering and raising his mask. Gai beams at the effort: Kakashi is never one to let the little things go.

“And was your mission successful?” Gai asks, when they’re on their very last drops.

Kakashi looks down at his teacup, tipping the ceramic back and forth between his palms.

“I wasn’t on duty tonight.”

“Oh,” Gai answers, blinking strangely in the kitchen light.

Kakashi glances up.

“Would you mind… if I stay the night?”

“Of course not!” Gai booms, a bit too quick and loud for the hour, but then he’s always believed that the bonds of friendship should never be hushed! And — and his heart squeezing gentle in his chest — he might have been the tiniest bit afraid, since the question several weeks ago, that things would be different between them.

That this would be different between them.

“The tea will keep for a perfect second pot for morning!” Gai declares brightly, springing to his feet with their teacups in hand. He sets their dishes in the sink, but unable to still his heart or limbs, decides it’d be best to clean them tomorrow morning. “I’ll find you some spare clothes!”

Gai has to wash his face and brush his teeth once again, but anything worth doing well once is worth doing well twice. Kakashi strips his ANBU gear and looks a bit softer, dropping onto Gai’s bed in only striped sleep pants and his uniform’s high-necked undershirt. He’s only gotten leaner since starting on testosterone, as if his body is determined to appear as cool and practical as his sharp mind.

Gai closes his bedroom window, drawing the curtains closed before turning off the last of the apartment lights. Kakashi sighs deeply, lazily tugging the covers over his pale body, leaving only his closed eyes and the spiky edge of his silver-gray hair visible.

Gai easily finds his bed in the dark, even though it’s been a month since he’s been able to enjoy resting in anything but sleeping bags. Now that he considers his mission in full, it _is_ surprising to find his home so free of dust… though perhaps it’s not so surprising to Kakashi. His friend curls comfortably against Gai’s chest, tucking his arms around Gai’s waist as if he missed this: climbing through windows and finding someone home. Gai smiles against Kakashi’s head, hugging his rival close, their heart beats uneven against each others’ chests.

It feels natural, as if they’ve done this a hundred times instead of only once, Kakashi asking softly in the dark:

_Would you be upset? If this was all I could give you?_

Gai holds his rival tighter. It’s never truly quiet in Konoha, but for a moment, there’s only his breath and Kaksahi’s.

Then, softly, Kakashi speaks against Gai’s chest.

“Hiruzan-sama asked me to resign from ANBU today.”

Gai shifts, trying to look at Kakashi and finding only his hair. “Kakashi! That’s—” he stumbles to catch himself even as the emotions swell against the back of his mouth, strong enough to overwhelm him. _Gai_ certainly thinks it’s a splendid announcement, but Kakashi — Kakashi has always felt differently about his time in ANBU.

He feels Kakashi’s smile through the thin fabric of his mask, pressed close against his collarbone.

“It’s alright, Gai,” he answers. “Let’s go to sleep.”

Gai presses his face against Kakashi’s hair, rough but sweet smelling. There is so much more he’d like to say — but there is always so much more he’d like to say with Kakashi, who of the two of them, has always been better with silence.

So Gai lets the night pass gentle.

The jōnin wakes up with dawn, of course, because his father taught him long ago that youth is too precious to waste sleeping in. Kakashi has shifted in his sleep, now curled towards the wall with the blanket a little looser across his shoulders. For a moment Gai simply looks, his breath surprisingly short for such a beautiful morning — then he quickly shakes his head, leaving the bed as softly as possible to begin his morning exercises.

He doesn’t hear anything from the living room, but when he returns to peak into the bedroom, Kakashi is gone. His sleep pants are neatly folded at the base of the bed with the window half-open, letting in a cool breeze.

Gai laughs, grinning fondly to himself. As to be expected, his rival has never been one to sleep in either, even though it’s a shame about the tea — he’s always thought that pu’er tea is too nice to be enjoyed alone.

**Author's Note:**

> aprldaze on twitter & pillowfort


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